When Senator Booker learned he was descended from the Mende ethnic group in Sierra Leone, he said, “That’s amazing to me!”

How was Senator Booker’s DNA traced to Sierra Leone?

Dr. Kittles is the founder of africanancestry.com
which specializes in tracing the heritage of African-Americans. It
focuses on their African ancestors who were trafficked during the transatlantic slave trade
that began in the 15th century. The company has a database of more than
30,000 DNA samples from members of the ethnic groups most commonly
brought from Africa to the Americas.

“We
look at two genetic systems that are inherited either from the mother
or the father,” says Dr. Kittles, explaining how the DNA is analyzed,
”Those genetics systems which are the Y-Chromosome and mitochondrial DNA
are passed on unchanged, meaning they’re identical every generation. So
the ancestor is no longer there, but there are people in their
present-day population who share that genetic information from the
ancestor.”

The Mende have produced two Sierra Leonean heads of state. Are the odds stacked in Cory Booker’s favor in 2020? Photo: Mobilus In Mobili. CC BY-SA 4.0.

The
database is used to identify corresponding genetic data between an
African-American and indigenous African ethnic groups. A match indicates
kinship.

Hence,
sufficient similarities between an African-American’s DNA and that of
the Mende is an indicator that their African ancestor belonged to this
ethnic group.

Who are the Mende of Sierra Leone?

The Mende are one of the largest of the sixteen ethnic groups indigenous to Sierra Leone.

Traditionally,
Mende people are agriculturists, educators, politicians, and warriors.
Their Mane forebearers invaded and conquered most of Sierra Leone in the
16th century, transforming the culture and political structure of the
region.

Centuries
later, during colonialism, when Sierra Leone sought independence from
the British Crown, the Mende played a pivotal role in the formation of
the postcolonial government.

One of the country’s first political parties, the Sierra Leone People’s Party, counts several Mende leaders among its founders including Paramount Chief Julius Gulama, Sir Banja Tejan-Sie, and Sir Milton Margai, who later became the first postcolonial Prime Minister of Sierra Leone.

Cory Booker’s early life and career

Cory
Booker was born to Carolyn and Cary Booker on April 27, 1969, in
Washington D.C. He was raised in Harrington Park, New Jersey.

U.S. Senator Cory Booker is the first American of Sierra Leonean ancestry to seek the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. Photo by David Shankbone. CC 3.0.

He
received his undergraduate degree at Stanford University. He was
awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and obtained an honors degree in history
from the University of Oxford. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School
in 1997.

He
became Mayor of Newark, New Jersey in 2006, a position he held until
2013. During his tenure, he appeared on Episode 7 of the first season of
‘Finding Your Roots’ and discovered his family’s British and Sierra Leonean heritage. He became the Junior Senator from New Jersey in 2014.

The first U.S. president of Sierra Leonean ancestry?

On
February 1, 2019 — the first day of Black History Month — Senator
Booker announced his campaign for the Democratic nomination for
President of the United States in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election.

Whether
or not an American President of Mende descent is in the cards in 2020
remains to be seen. However, as the Mende have already produced two
Sierra Leonean heads of government, the odds may be stacked in Cory
Booker’s favor.

Should he win the nomination and become the 46th President of the United States, the “moral arc” which Dr. King famously spoke of will indeed bend toward justice. For in the utter despair and horror of that long ago Middle Passage journey, could Senator Booker’s Sierra Leonean ancestor have dared to dream that one of their descendants would one day occupy the highest office in the land that enslaved them?